Head regent, donor to UCLA hospital

Frank W. Clark Jr., a lawyer and former chairman of the UC Board of Regents who also was a major donor to UCLA Medical Center, died March 14 at the center, his family said. He was 90.

The cause of death was not announced.

Two UCLA healthcare facilities bear his name: the Frank Clark Urology Center in Santa Monica and the Clark-Morrison Children’s Urological Center near the medical center.

“He made very substantial financial contributions to the university,” said Charles Young, a longtime UCLA chancellor who retired in 1997. “As a member of the Board of Regents, he was as well informed as any member that ever existed. He accomplished a great deal for the University of California, especially in the area of hospital operations.”

A 1939 graduate of UCLA, Clark lived blocks from his alma mater -- and often quietly supported it.

Alan Charles, a former UCLA vice chancellor, recalled telling Clark over lunch that fundraising for a project had come up $100,000 short. Clark proceeded to write a check for the amount.

“And he never asked for anything -- recognition, honor or basketball tickets,” Charles said. “He was a great guy.”

Clark served as a UC regent from 1980 to 2000 and chaired the board from 1986 to 1988. He was known for embracing reform and was seen as an expert on hospital finances.

Former Gov. George Deukmejian, who reappointed Clark to a 12-year term in 1988, called him “a consummate professional” who “had a strong interest in providing the highest quality of medical care for the University of California.”

Dr. Jean DeKernion, chairman of UCLA’s department of urology, said Clark was drawn to healthcare because “he loved the idea that he could do something that would essentially spill over to help so many people. . . . He was truly dedicated to the whole concept of healthcare.”

Among the 26 regents, Clark cast the sole vote in 1997 opposing the merger of the Stanford and UC San Francisco hospitals. He denounced the plan as the “privatization” of a branch of state government and called it “an outright violation of the state Constitution.” The joint venture collapsed two years later.

He was a member of the board that appointed the first two women as UC chancellors, at Riverside and Santa Barbara, in 1987; voted in 1995 to establish UC Merced; and adopted new admission rules in 1999 that guaranteed seats to students in the top 4% of their high school classes statewide.

One of the board’s most controversial moves during his tenure was abolishing race-based preferences in student admissions, hiring and contracting. He was one of 15 regents who voted to end affirmative action during a UC San Francisco meeting in 1995 that was interrupted by demonstrators and a bomb threat.

A Los Angeles native, Clark was born Nov. 17, 1917. He grew up playing golf and tennis at the Los Angeles Country Club.

After earning a bachelor’s degree at UCLA, he entered UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. World War II interrupted his schooling, and in 1941 he joined the Navy, serving in the office of intelligence.

In 1946, Clark completed his law degree at Hastings. Five years later, he was a partner in the Los Angeles firm now known as Parker, Milliken, Clark, O’Hara & Samuelian. Clark specialized in trusts and estates and was considered prominent in his field.

Colleagues and friends invariably described him as “tough” or “gruff.” They also echoed former Chancellor Young: “Underneath that crankiness was a teddy bear.”

Clark’s survivors include his wife of 33 years, Dorothy; stepdaughters Margaret Preissman and Marianne Coberly; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

--

valerie.nelson@latimes.com